80k miles over 90 months of ownership and only just recently encountered a pricey unscheduled maintenance bill due to a wiring harness issue connected to the mass airflow sensor.

Plus 3 recalls early on in it's career, and a HID bulb that had to be replaced (naturally just after the warranty expired) and that's the extent of the tale of woe to date.

I plan on keeping this car until it starts exhibiting signs of its eventual demise. It still looks pretty good, both inside and out. The DSG tranny is holding up well, but I pretty much keep it in auto mode unless I'm really bored. The exhaust really has a lovely note when the VR6 is at full flush, but it can be borderline obnoxious to anyone but a cheese eating high school kids ears probably.

I just shod it with its second set of Conti DSW's, so I'd be jazzed to get another 30 - 40k miles out of both the car and tires............but if the end of the former comes sooner than later the GTI would be at the top of my list.

I went to the auto show here over the Christmas Holiday's and it was about the only vehicle that really impressed me. I like the upcoming R, but at close to $40k that's more than I intend to spend for a daily beater these days. I'd rather put the dough towards adding an M2, and selling or trading the VW in two to three years (but that's slightly off topic).

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The path to God is clear.......and it takes us to the cross.

We got our '13 TDI with 24k miles on it. Per records, it had no warranty issues under its first owner, just two oil changes (every 10k for the diesel).

We are now at about 37k. We have had one issue, a hard/no start after a particular cold/freeze/thaw cycle. 2 seconds of googling shows that the 2.0TDI engine requires a cold weather fix kit, as the intercooler condensation can freeze then melt and drip into the intake or some such thing. The real annoyance was VW dealers, the first dealer couldn't "reproduce" the problem, checked our battery and sent us back. The second time it happened, we called a tow truck and now apparently the fix is in.

Otherwise, car feels great, gets nearly 50mpg, almost always over 42, with good pep and tight as a drum. My lower mileage e46M is a rattle bucket in comparison.

Good to hear, OP, our TDI is also basically perfect in every other way. We had to "arm twist" as well, why should such a common issue require two visits to two different dealers before they take us seriously? Their dealers are worse than bmw & audi, that's for sure.

1. This weekend we went and checked out the Macan. Wife test drove a loaded S, very nice car from the passenger seat. I spec out a Macan base with the options I would get and it is around ~54k.

2. She is also(more) interested in the new Mazda CX-9, plan to go test drive in the near future. I think the one she would get would be $35-40k.

3. as also thinking the Jaguar F-Pace looks pretty nice for the money, start at $40k. You can get it in a diesel too which might be nice since my wife drives a decent amount of miles a year, ~15k. Reliability scare me with this option though.

Anything else to consider? She likes wagons but with limited choices she is doesnt mind SUV too. 7 seats are nice but she can probably get by with 5.
To me the mileage , ~15k, scares me a bit with the non-japanese luxury choices. Also it would seat outside during the day with work in a so so area.

1. This weekend we went and checked out the Macan. Wife test drove a loaded S, very nice car from the passenger seat. I spec out a Macan base with the options I would get and it is around ~54k.

2. She is also(more) interested in the new Mazda CX-9, plan to go test drive in the near future. I think the one she would get would be $35-40k.

3. as also thinking the Jaguar F-Pace looks pretty nice for the money, start at $40k. You can get it in a diesel too which might be nice since my wife drives a decent amount of miles a year, ~15k. Reliability scare me with this option though.

Anything else to consider? She likes wagons but with limited choices she is doesnt mind SUV too. 7 seats are nice but she can probably get by with 5.
To me the mileage , ~15k, scares me a bit with the non-japanese luxury choices. Also it would seat outside during the day with work in a so so area.

I'm definitely interested in this car search. I'd add the Volvo XC90, and the new Audi Q7, but they are pretty large.